THE NATION | IN BRIEF / WASHINGTON, D.C.

Scientists Say Ecstasy Study Used Wrong Drug

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University who last year published a controversial report suggesting that a single evening's use of the illicit drug Ecstasy could cause permanent brain damage and Parkinson's disease are retracting their research in its entirety, saying the drug they used in their experiments wasn't Ecstasy after all. The researchers blamed the error on a labeling mix-up.

Previous studies had reported on the brain hazards of Ecstasy, and the researchers said the problems with their study did not call into question the earlier ones.